As processing capabilities and memory on personal computers has increased, graphical user interfaces displayed on personal computer devices have become more robust and aesthetically pleasing. For example, a client side graphical user interface for an exemplary application may include numerous elements that can have a plurality of properties and property values associated therewith. For instance, an exemplary graphical user interface may include a plurality of depressible buttons, selectable contacts, slide bars, emoticons, etc. These elements may have particular shapes and/or colors and may change shape or color upon a certain action being undertaken by a user of the graphical user interface.
Conventionally, graphical user interfaces are designed using a markup language which may be similar to HTML. An exemplary markup file may include numerous strings, elements, properties, values and/or the like. The markup file is traditionally transmitted from an application server to a client device together with a library that informs the client device of how the markup file is to be interpreted. At runtime, the markup file must be parsed to allow the client device to display a corresponding graphical user interface on a display screen. For complex graphical user interfaces, however, parsing the markup file can be relatively resource intensive.